Georgia city cuts off water to planned ICE detention facility

Water access has been cut off for a planned Georgia ICE facility, with authorities saying the lock placed on the building’s meter will remain in place until the agency determines how services could be provided to the building without exceeding the city’s capacity.

Per 11 Alive, Social Circle City Manager Eric Taylor said that a lock had been placed on the property’s water meter, and an ICE representative had been notified about the lock after the property was sold when they asked about setting up a utility account. 

Taylor said that the lock would remain in place until the agency determines how water and sewage services could be provided without overwhelming Social Circle’s system. The city said it has a permit that allows officials to draw up to 1 million gallons of water per day from the Alcovy River. The local sewer treatment plant is operating at capacity, being able to process around 660,000 gallons per day. 

Taylor said that a preliminary analysis from ICE indicated that the facility’s planned water and sewer usage would exceed those limits. 

Social Circle officials said they learned in February that ICE purchased a large property and warehouse that had been proposed as the site for a new ICE detention facility. 

In a February update, the city shared information that it had received from the Department of Homeland Security regarding plans for the facility. DHS said that they "will fully implement a new detention model by the end of Fiscal Year 2026," with the DHS planning to implement a "Hub and Spoke Model," in which four smaller processing facilities would process illegal immigrants into larger detention facilities. The facility in Social Circle was identified as one of eight "mega centers."

"The facility in Social Circle is expected to house anywhere from 7,500 to 10,000 detainees and will be constructed using a modular design so that capacity can be scaled up or down as needed," the city said, adding that the facility is expected to employ up to 2,500 staff members and include holding areas, gyms, cafeterias, a gun range, and other spaces. 

The city addressed the water issue in the February update, writing, "In documents supplied to the City by DHS, it is stated that the facility will have 'no adverse effect on the community and surrounding properties.’ The City contends that the information provided is insufficient in fully answering our questions and does not adequately support the conclusion that the surrounding area would not be impacted.  

"The City’s concerns regarding water and sewer infrastructure have not been addressed to our satisfaction. We continue to have more questions than answers. DHS referenced a wastewater analysis to support its claims of available capacity; however, a portion of that capacity was attributed to the A. Scott Emmons Treatment Facility. This treatment facility is not owned by the City of Social Circle, is not located within the city limits, is in a different county, and does not connect to the City’s utility system or this building. 

The city said in regards to water usage, "DHS analysis references a cistern-based approach in which tanks would be filled from local municipal systems during off-peak hours. Regardless of the time of day, the City’s infrastructure cannot accommodate this level of demand—a point City officials have stated repeatedly. While the proposal is certainly creative, it does not resolve the fundamental issue: the total additional water demand required for a facility of this scale simply exceeds what the City’s system is capable of providing."